A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c11.s2.72

c11.s2.72

The discoveries include many works of art dating from the Kushān period, all executed in sandstone, generally of the Chanār kind, but often of the red variety imported from Mathurā and wrought in the style favoured by the sculptors of that city. Several statues of Bodhisattvas, executed in the round on a large scale, are almost identical with the Mathurā specimen reproduced above (Fig. 94), and one of these is dated in the third year of the reign of Kanishka, which may be regarded provisionally as equivalent to A. D. 80. The Kushān age of such works is thus definitely determined. Halos, when present, are plain, not highly decorated as in the Gupta period.